Voters head to polls Saturday with many big elections
By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – Voters should expect to spend a few extra minutes at their polling sites on Saturday, Oct. 14, when a very large ballot awaits them with everything from state races, to parish races, to four Constitutional Amendments to decide on.
Seen as one of the biggest and most important elections in recent memory for voters in St. Tammany Parish, as well as the entire state, all the positions at the state level will be decided, along with St. Tammany Parish elections that cover all key positions from parish president to Parish Council.
There will be a new governor voted into office after Saturday and perhaps a runoff day, with Slidell having one of the candidates in the race as incumbent District #1 Senator Sharon Hewitt announced her run for the top position in the state over a year ago.
There is a large lineup of candidates seeking the governorship, with most experts seeing a strong possibility that a Republican will be replacing current Governor John Bel Edwards, who is a Democrat and term limited out.
Current La. Attorney General Jeff Landry has consistently led the polls for governor by a sizeable margin due in part to his massive campaign war chest and his high-profile position the past four years, however, with 15 candidates on the ballot, Landry must still earn one vote more than 50 percent to take the election in the primary—something that will be challenging to do.
The only Democrat in the race, former Louisiana Transportation Secretary Shawn Wilson, has run second in the most recent polls, however, Hewitt is among a group of others who are in the 6 percent to 7 percent polling range, close to the front runners.
St. Tammany Parish also has two other candidates seeking the governor’s position, with former La. Treasurer John Schroder and former La. Representative Richard Nelson on the ballot.
All a candidate has to do is finish second and keep Landry below 50 percent to force the expected runoff when things can rapidly change, meaning it is likely that someone other than Landry will make the runoff.
On the state level, voters will also decide on lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer and one position on the BESE board, where St. Tammany resident Paul Hollis, a former state representative, is running for the job.
In St. Tammany Parish there are a host of critical elections that include the races for parish president, sheriff, clerk of court, all Parish Council seats, two 22nd District Court judgeships, and important elections for seats in the Louisiana Legislature.
Topping the list is incumbent Parish President Mike Cooper seeking his second term against Slidell Mayor Greg Cromer; incumbent Sheriff Randy Smith seeking his third term as he is challenged by former Slidell Police Officer Tommy Williams and former Navy veteran and police officer John Gurba; and incumbent Clerk of Court Melissa Henry being challenged by former Assistant D.A. Jessica Jenkins Brewster.
Parish Council elections will be on the ballot across the parish with 13 of the 14 positions up for grabs, including five of the seats wide open after incumbents decided against running.
Only District 14 will not be on the ballot after incumbent Ron Randolph qualified to run against Jimmy Strickland, but then opted out of the race, handing the seat to Strickland.
Two state Senate seats are on the ballot, with eastern St. Tammany looking at an expected tight race between two former state reps in Bob Owen and Ray Garofalo, seeking the District #1 seat vacated by Hewitt.
In House of Representative seats for eastern St. Tammany, District 74 in the Pearl River area has three new faces in the running with Lou Dutel, Peter Egan and Buffie Singletary on the ballot; District 76 also has two new faces seeking the position with Stephanie Berault and Shawn Jones in the running; District 90 has incumbent Mary DuBuisson being challenged by Brian Glorioso and Heidi Alejandro-Smith; and the Lacombe area has an open seat for District 104 with John Raymond and Jay Galle both seeking the job.
Two of the judge seats on the 22nd District Court are open and in District ‘A’ there is Alan Black vying against Larry Frieman, while in District ‘B’ there is Tara Farris Zeller taking on Casey Allen.
The assessor and coroner positions in St. Tammany were decided after qualifying when the only qualifiers were incumbent Assessor Louis Fitzmorris returning for his third term, while Dr. Christopher Tape qualified for coroner after incumbent Dr. Charles Preston decided against running for his third term.
Voters will face four Constitutional Amendments to decide on, with one of special note – the bill passed by Sen. Beth Mizell that intends to create law so that the government can never close down churches again in the event of another COVID type situation.